


Please forgive me for whatever i do (when i don't remember you)

by hereforthehurts



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Character Death, F/F, FebuWhump2021, Grief/Mourning, Korra/Asami Sato-centric, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series Finale, This is sad as fuck author is so sorry they wrote this, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29677722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hereforthehurts/pseuds/hereforthehurts
Summary: The avatar cycle passes on.(Asami knows this, of course, but it still hurts. It hurts so much.)OR; Asami meets the new avatar and recalls memories of her dear Korra.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 13
Kudos: 87





	Please forgive me for whatever i do (when i don't remember you)

**Author's Note:**

> For febuwhump day 24; memory loss !! This was so fucking painful for me to write oh god

Asami knows exactly who the new avatar is when she sees her for the first time.

  
  
  


She has Korra’s eyes—not blue like hers, no, but they had the same spark she used to see in Korra’s eyes whenever Asami looked into them. It was one of the very first things that made her go,  _ yeah, this is the one. _ The rest of her was distinctive—tan Earth Kingdom skin, jet black hair, sturdy posture.

But her  _ smile _ , that sideways smile of hers, exactly like the one Korra used to give her—the kind that would always make Asami melt and go  _ Spirits, I love her so much— _ she has it.

  
  


She definitely does.

  
  
  


“Hello. You’re Asami.”

  
  
  


She was so much like Korra, Asami wanted to pull her into her arms and cry on her shoulders.

  
  


(But she doesn’t.)

  
  
  


“Hello, yes I am,” she crouches down and smiles instead. The girl beams, looking back towards her nervous parents before taking Asami’s hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too! I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“So have I.”

  
  


Being the Avatar’s wife meant that she had to take care of what Korra had left behind. When she first heard about the newfound avatar two years ago, when the girl had been three, she had taken over the White Lotus almost immediately and ordered them to not bother her with training until she turns ten, and keep her identity a secret until she turns seventeen.

It was all in Korra’s letters, the ones she wrote and kept safe in a carved wooden box. Asami didn’t dare to open it until months after she had died.

  
  
  
  


It all hurts. It all hurts too much.

  
  
  


When she finally does, there are five separate letters inside. One,  _ for the next avatar.  _ Two,  _ for Bolin and Mako.  _ Three,  _ for the air children.  _ Four,  _ for their daughter.  _ And five,  _ for Asami. _

Asami doesn’t open what didn’t belong to her—she had given each of the letters in private and left before they could read it. It took her a few more weeks before she finally read the one letter for her.

  
  


Three pages. Just words and words from her dear Korra for the last time.

She reads it slowly, absorbing every single letter and swallows them inside her heart. She imagined Korra’s voice reading it to her in her head, imagined her laugh with every single joke she made on the letter. And when she got to the very last words of that letter, she cried.

Asami cried. And then she reads it all over again. And again. And again. It was only in the morning when her daughter came into the room and held her that she stopped crying. They talked for a long while, about the last words their Korra had said to them. They shared her joke and laughed at her despite the tears flowing down their face.

  
  


Katara had spoken to her the days after, guiding her out of her misery, out of her grief. She was old and frail, now, but as wise as she always had been. The prophecy that Katara had been given when she was fourteen said that she’d die after her third great-grandson was born—and between Jinora’s second daughter, Ikki and Meelo’s busy days as airbending teachers, and Rohan’s forever indecisiveness (he was so much like his father, people say)—that wouldn’t be any time soon.

Which is great by Asami. She doesn’t know what she would do if Katara isn’t there, walking her through the painful path Katara had walked alone years ago.

  
  


_ The dead don't suffer when they die, Asami,  _ Katara had told her softly.  _ It’s the people who loved them that do. _

_ And yes _ , Asami thought,  _ she did suffer _ . Their daughter suffered. Their family and friends suffered. The world suffered.

  
  


But the world didn’t know her as she did, did they?

  
  
  


So, she succumbed into her sadness for another long while. She smiled, she went out, she talked and laughed—but the feeling was still there, placed deep inside her ribs, not willing to go away. And on lonely nights when she wished Korra had been in the empty space beside her, she cried.

  
  


And that was okay. It hurted, but it was okay. It’s just… life.

Life and death and love and birth. It’s all just life. And life goes on.

  
  
  
  


And turns out, life also brings her the little girl standing in front of her.

  
  
  


“I have something for you,” Asami reached into her coat pocket. Inside, there’s the letter Korra had written for the next avatar _.  _ “It’s a letter.”

“From Korra,” The girl finished the sentence for her. Her eyes gleam when she says it.

“That’s true,” Asami smiles softly. “Would you like to read it now?”

“Yes, please,” she looks up at her and offers her a hand. “Let’s go to the garden. Just the two of us.”

  
  
  


Asami tries her best not to let out a sob.

  
  
  


She takes her hand. “Of course.”

  
  
  
  


It felt like holding Korra’s hand for the first time all over again.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I AM SO SORRY


End file.
